[annapurna]

- Is there any reason in waiting to do this procedure?
Yes and no. Damage to your spine from having a damaged spinal disk goes beyond the disk. Facets, particularly, can take a hit from the misplaced loading caused by a desiccated and deflated disk. That suggests that early intervention is better - don't wait. On the other hand, many people have discal damage and it never develops into problems. I've given this advice many times - do your research now, while the pain is controllable, as if you're going to get surgery. If the pain increases or your abilities to live your life decrease, you'll know it's time to operate (you're degenerating not holding level) and not be trying to rush around thinking through things through a haze of pain meds. If your pain and abilities hold level, you'll have learned a lot about spinal surgery and have the confidence to hold off on surgery knowing you're ready to pull the trigger when the time comes.

- How much of your active life did you get back?
For surgeries that went well, it seems like most people get most of their active lives back. The more non-disk damage you have, the more persistent post-op problems you'll struggle with regardless of how well the ADR surgery goes, though. Side note: nearly everyone over-does it post surgery and has a period where the pain increases. Take your time; it may take more than a year post-surgery to fully recover.

- I really hate to ask this one but is there a certain percentage of people who did not get better or even got worse after ADR?
Yes. Even if you ignore the people who get an ADR when they were really too bad off for one and a fusion should have been performed and those who's surgeons made some mistake, some fraction of people do get worse from ADR. One benefit of doing the research now but not rushing off to get surgery is that it lets you really understand the risks of ADR vs. the risks of fusion vs. the risks of conservative (non-surgical) care so you can understand what you're getting into. I wouldn't consider going to a surgeon who promised you a good outcome. Stating that you are or are not in a condition for a high probability of a good outcome is okay; promising one isn't.

- Kind of rogue one but I read somewhere that it can cause infertility and sexual dysfunction can anyone elaborate on that?
I've not checked into this for a long time but there was talk of the possibility of retrograde ejaculation from lower abdominal surgery; don't know if that applies to your case. I'd say it's possible but there didn't seem to be a lot of talk about it so it may be a unlikely side-effect of a poor surgical outcome.